US oil inventories climb for the first time in 9 weeks

REUTERS/Rick Wilking
US crude oil inventories unexpectedly rose for the first time in nine weeks last week.

According to the Energy Information Administration, commercial crude inventories rose by 2.4 million barrels in the week ending June 26.

Analysts had expected inventories to rise, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This brings the total number of barrels in storage to 465.4 million, still the highest level for this time of year in about 80 years.

In the prior week, inventories fell by 4.9 million barrels.

On Wednesday morning, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell more than 2%, and slid below $58 per barrel after the inventories data crossed.

If inventories had fallen for a ninth week, it would have been the longest streak of declines ever, according to the Journal.

There was an epic 16-week build in inventories from the second week of January as US oil shale supply boomed. The EIA estimated that production would fall from June through early 2016, in its latest short-term outlook.

Today's data showed that production at Cushing, Oklahoma, a key delivery point, fell 6,000 last week to 9.59 million barrels, while inventories rose 200,000.